10 mo. ago • 96%

WTF species of spider is this

Came across a bunch of these guys all hangin out together on a hike in Australia.

Does anyone have any clue what they are? I thought maybe spiny orb weavers but they dont match perfectly.

28 comments

Jewel spiders!

69
For anyone from the Americas who thought they’ve seen these little guys before, Gasteracanta cancriformus is probably the cousin of OP’s orb weaver spider that you’re familiar with.

60
- We had tons of those in my backyard growing up in South Florida.
  
  16
  
  Tons in Texas too
  
  7
  
  I talk about these guys and the banana spiders a lot! Banana spiders were so cool.
  
  3
- That's immediately what I thought of. I remember these from the woods when I was a kid.
  
  2
- That's the coolest fucking spider in the universe.
  
  2
Those are skulltulas.

60
- Aw yeah. Somebody's getting a bigger wallet.
  
  12
Google Lens says Jewel Spider / Christmas Spider

Looks right, lives in Australia, and only one of its genus.

wikipedia.org/wiki/Austracantha

They are facultatively gregarious, and can be found in large aggregations of overlapping orb webs.

Sounds like what you got there!

40
- How festive!
  
  3
Of course they're in Australia

27
- I hate to break it to you, but spiders live everywhere.
  
  These look rather small, too.
  
  10
  
  Bit it's the funny reddit joke. You are supposed to upvote and congratulate on the great joke.
  
  4
- Nature is wild down there it seems. Maybe they DO need rabies to help curb some of these crazy ass species 🤣
  
  -2
These are perfectly harmless and live in colonies. Used to have these around growing up and let them crawl all over my hands. Most spiders in Australia are harmless, there's really only 2 or 3 types you need to worry about. Redback, funnel web and maybe white tip. The rest might hurt if they bite you, and of course an infection is possible if not cleaned but thats for any type of bite really.

18
Those are skulltulas.

14
- chsk-chsk-chsk-chsk
  
  0
Pokemon kind 🤷?

14
- Nah, the kind that will make you lose your mushroom power up if you jump on it.
  
  3
Wow, I never seen spider like this before. Thank you for sharing it.

10
Permanently Deleted

5
Kumoko be like

4
We call them crab spiders in Florida

4
I recognise these little scamps. They're pretty cute.

3
Austracantha minax

1
I'm definitely getting Legend of Zelda vibes from them.

1
Those were my favorite spiders when I was a kid. They weren’t scary and didn’t bite.

1

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